2026 USF2000 Championship

The 2026 USF2000 Championship presented by Continental Tire is the seventeenth season of the USF2000 Championship since its revival in 2010. The championship serves as the second rung of the IndyCar Series's USF Pro Championships ladder system.

The 2026 season will be held over 18 races across eight race weekends. It started on February 27 around the Streets of St. Petersburg and will end on September 26 at Road America.

Drivers and teams

All drivers compete using Tatuus USF-22 racecars with Elite Mazda 2.0-014A engines and Continental tires.

Team changes

After having already entered the season finale in 2025 in preparation for their 2026 campaign, ENVE Motorsports entered the championship as a new team.

USF Juniors team Zanella Racing expanded to add an USF2000 program in 2026.

IndyCar team Ed Carpenter Racing announced a partnership with Jay Howard Driver Development, with JHDD's cars in the USF Pro Championships entering under the Jay Howard Driver Development powered by ECR guise.

One-car teams Benchmark Autosport and Synergy Motorsport both left the series.

Driver changes

Reigning Teams' Champions VRD Racing saw Thomas Schrage and Christian Cameron leave the championship, while Teddy Musella remained with the team for the opening weekend of 2026 ahead of stepping up to their USF Pro 2000 outfit. To replace them, VRD promoted both João Vergara and Colin Aitken from their USF Juniors outfit, with whom the former came third and the latter 21st in 2025, and signed Formula FARA graduate Jack Mohrhardt.

Exclusive Autosport saw Lucas Fecury, Brenden Cooley and reigning champion Jack Jeffers leave the series. They were replaced by two debutants and a returnee: Brothers Ayrton and Gabriel Cahan, reigning champion and runner-up of the FRP F1600 Championship, joined the team for their USF2000 debuts, while Anthony Martella departed JHDD to return to the team he drove for in USF Juniors in 2024. Kaylee Countryman rejoined Exclusive Racing after a four-race cameo and a USF Juniors campaign with the team in 2025 for a partial schedule alongside her main F1 Academy campaign. Exclusive Autosport also entered a sixth car at St. Petersburg for their USF Juniors driver Connor Aspley.

Pabst Racing expanded to an all-new three-car lineup in 2026 after they promoted G3 Argyros to their USF Pro 2000 outfit and Caleb Gafrarar left the series. The team signed Brad Majman and Eddie Beswick for their second seasons after they came twelfth with JHDD and tenth with Synergy Motorsport, respectively, in 2025. Pabst's lineup was completed by karting graduate Lucas Nanji.

The newly formed JHDD/ECR partnership recruited Skip Barber Formula Race Series driver Naim Saleh to replace Pabst-bound Majman and signed karting graduate Cal Peter to replace Exclusive-bound Martella. They also promoted 2025 USF Juniors runner-up Liam Loiacono from its outfit in that championship, as well as entering karting graduate Erik Holm in place of Timothy Carel, who left the championship.

DEForce Racing downsized from five to three entries as both Patricio and Rodrigo González moved over to GB3 with VRD and Jeshua Alianell and Vaughn Mishko left the series. The team promoted Thomas Nordquist from their USF Juniors outfit, where he finished the 2025 season in 17th, to their USF2000 outfit, with whom he had already debuted in the championship for two races in 2025, while Brady Golan rejoined the team with whom he competed in the first five rounds of 2025 for the opening two races of 2026.

ENVE Motorsport signed F1600 Championship Series graduate Wesley Gundler for their first full USF2000 season.

New team Zanella Racing promoted reigning USF Juniors champion Leonardo Escorpioni to their newly founded USF2000 program.

Departing team Synergy Motorsport saw their driver Eddie Beswick join Pabst Racing, while Ayrton Houk departed the series together with his Benchmark Autosport team.

Schedule

The 2026 schedule was revealed on October 25, 2025. The championship will visit two street circuits, four road courses and one oval. It followed its parent series in moving its Canadian rounds from Exhibition Place to the Streets of Markham, while it replaced the round at NOLA Motorsports Park it held in 2024 and 2025 with a second round at Road America. All rounds except the weekends at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and the second weekend at Road America will run in support of the IndyCar Series.

Race results

Season report

First half

The 2026 USF2000 Championship's first weekend was a double-header around the Streets of St. Petersburg, where DEForce Racing's Sebastián Garzón topped the qualifying session to claim pole position for the first race. Exclusive Autosport's Anthony Martella overtook him entering the first turn, but a spin and subsequent contact saw him eliminated as Garzón resumed the lead ahead of VRD's João Vergara and Zanella's Leonardo Escorpioni. The race resumed on lap four, but no further changes to the podium positions followed. Pole position for the second race went to Pabst Racing's Eddie Beswick. Garzón started third and moved past Pabst's Brad Majman right away before using a safety car restart to claim the lead on lap six. Escorpioni followed him through, but ran wide and lost the place again. Garzón managed the race to end the weekend with two wins.

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system

• The driver who qualifies on pole is awarded one additional point.
• One point is awarded to the driver who led the most laps in a race.
• One point is awarded to the driver who set the fastest lap during the race.

Teams' championship

Scoring system

• Single car teams receive 3 bonus points as an equivalency to multi-car teams.
• Only the best two results are counted for teams fielding more than two entries.

See also

• 2026 IndyCar Series
• 2026 Indy NXT
• 2026 USF Pro 2000 Championship
• 2026 USF Juniors

External links